local natives
by ninejs
Summary: He's never seen her this way before. —nathan & victoria


**moved 5/6/17. originally written 7/27/15.**

 **when i first wrote this, i absolutely fucking _hated_ these two. i feel a lot differently about them now. while you read, keep that and the fact that episode 5 was not out when i first wrote this in mind.**

 **takes place at the end of episode 2. title from the name of the band who's song ("Mt. Washington") plays at the end of that episode. follows what happened in my game (and most others, i'm sure): kate survived, and nathan gets suspended.**

 **warnings: mentions of attempted suicide, and recreational alcohol/drug use (as expected of these two).**

* * *

When he walks into the doorway of her dorm room, and she lifts her head up to look at him, he can see her panicked expression. Her eyes are red-rimmed, and she's wearing an expression he's never seen on her face before.

If he had to describe it, it would be heartbreak. He came to her room hoping the two of them could go and get wasted to forget what happened, to forget that a girl almost jumped off a roof and died today. To forget that some stupid girl reported him and he got suspended for it.

But instead, he comes face to face with his friend who's clearly in the midst of a breakdown.

Asking if she's okay would be an idiot move - she's not okay, clearly, and he isn't either. He can cover it up all he wants, but he knows he feels something, somewhere deep inside, for what happened to Kate Marsh, even if harassing her was more of Victoria's favorite past time.

But still, he smiles, albeit it slowly goes away. He can't keep this up anymore. At least not in front of Victoria. They trust each other enough to at least be honest.

He takes a seat on her bed. There's a heavily pregnant silence in the air. He wishes it wasn't so uncomfortable. This isn't like them. They don't do this. They don't sit in silence and wish away their actions.

But then again, they've never had to deal with repercussions quite this large.

Victoria Chase is crying, and Nathan Prescott is feeling more and more helpless as he watches her bury her head in her hands again.

Usually the two of them have much more to say to one another. It should not be so hard to say something to her.

"Are you just going to sit there and watch me cry?" she questions, still sounding hostile and angry despite her sniffling, "Are you getting some kind of sick pleasure from it?"

He doesn't answer. Victoria wipes away her tears with the back of her hand. She sighs, and Nathan thinks she's realizing her hostility against him doesn't really have a place in this moment.

"We shouldn't have posted that video."

Victoria is talking about things that Nathan knows he should agree with, knows he should back her up and try to comfort her, but he just can't seem to get the words out of his mouth. He's still in awe about every surreal thing that seems to be happening around him in this cow town of theirs.

"Are you going to say anything?" she asks, and he can hear the edge in her voice, the waning sign that she's starting to grow accusatory.

There are a few seconds of silence before Nathan finally opens his mouth.

"I don't know what you want me to say," he starts, "I don't know what anyone wants me to say. There's nothing to say anymore."

Victoria blinks at him, rendered silent by his words, if only for a moment, and then she lets out another sigh, before promptly going back to her breakdown.

"She almost died. and it's my fault."

Nathan puts his hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her. "It's not just your fault."

And then Victoria stops crying, stops shaking, stops looking and acting in a way that is so not her, and Nathan gets a look at his friend. A teary, sniffling version of her, but still the same girl that can crush anyone underneath her hundred dollar designer boots.

"We should go out and forget," he starts, "I won't be seeing you for a while."

Her head pops up at that one, and he shrugs. Best not to tell her just yet, not when she's like this.

"Let's go get shit faced," she says, looking at him expectantly, managing a small smile.

"There's the Victoria I know," he replies, with a smile. But it's a sad and hollow statement - because the two of them might be smiling, and they're going to go somewhere to try and forget, but they won't forget.

It'll help for a few hours, but they know the sad truth about what happens when you're sober again. Things come back, and no amount of 'trying to forget,' as they call it, will help. And for once, Nathan feels grateful about that.

Because maybe they shouldn't forget. Maybe they're having that wake-up call they're supposed to have had when they got to Blackwell, or maybe even years ago when they were freshmen.

And when he's sober in the early morning, getting forced out of a place he hates, maybe he'll forget this moment, when that realization hit him in the face. When he realized he and Victoria aren't good people, that they deserve to feel this way. And hopefully, Victoria will have forgotten, too.


End file.
